Regardless if you are bodybuilding to compete on stage or just to improve your body, Muscular Balance is the key to an attractive Physique.  When all the muscles flow in complete harmony, your physique seems to shine.  “Bigger is better” does not apply to aesthetics. Overdeveloped muscles are a distraction and take away from the harmony of the complete look.  Balancing proportion in size will create an aesthetic visual; something that is pleasing to the eye. For example; if your chest and back are of equal proportion in size, and definition, your torso will be erect.  This will put your shoulders in a position that will create the visual of a tapered body. Just the opposite will occur if you aren’t in balance. If your Chest is small, your Lats and Traps are going to look overdeveloped, spread out and give the appearance of a rounded torso.  Optimal balance also gives the illusion of increased size and strength.  A 160lb man can actually look 200lbs. 

Eugene Sandow (1867 – 1925) is known as “the father of modern bodybuilding.” He was the first person to display his physique on stage for people to see. He had an obsession with trying to create “The Grecian Ideal” of a physique. He would go to museums and actually measure Greek statues to get their proportions. Sandow set the standard for how men were judged in these competitions. Symmetry and balance were synonymous with the term “Bodybuilder.”  Steve Reeves, Frank Zane, Chris Dickerson, Bob Paris, Lee Labrada and Lee Haney all followed to achieve precise muscular balance with size. 

Recently, the purpose of bodybuilding has been lost.  Bodybuilders today are oversized and carry too much mass for their frames, distorting the natural lines of the body.  Competitions have turned more into freak shows than a celebration of aesthetic physiques.  We wonder where it ends or how it will evolve.  Wouldn’t it be nice for a talented bodybuilder to show up at Mr. Olympia or another big show in perfect balance, the ideal proportion?  He probably would not win, but would make the biggest impression.  Or maybe have a trophy that goes to the most tastefully developed physique.  The man who doesn’t win the contest might win the trophy, which in the long run might be more prestigious.